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The Flames moved their affiliate to the Fraser Valley after playing two seasons in Moline, Illinois as the Quad City Flames. The team's transfer was approved on April 28, 2009,[1] and as a result, Abbotsford became the westernmost city in the AHL. The team closest to the Heat in distance, the Oklahoma City Barons, was 1,583 mi (2,548 km) away, and the Heat were the only AHL team west of the Central Time Zone. To reduce travel costs, road teams sometimes played two consecutive games in Abbotsford, and in some cases, the Heat played consecutive road games at the same arena. The same scheduling is used for the St. John's Ice Caps.

The organization held a "name the team" contest, and on May 14, 2009, Heat was announced as the team's new name.[2]

The team struggled financially and saw low attendance; talks eventually broke down between the city of Abbotsford, the Vancouver Canucks, and the Calgary Flames on a possible affiliation swap.

Upon the Vancouver Canucks' purchase of the Peoria Rivermen, the Heat's owners were petitioned from interested groups in Utica, New York. On June 14, 2013, the Vancouver Canucks and Mohawk Valley Garden, the managing partner based in Utica, signed a six-year affiliation agreement, and the Utica Comets became the new AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.

The city of Abbotsford terminated the contract with the Heat on April 15, 2014.[4] The Heat finished the season and Calder Cup Playoffs in Abbotsford, and on May 5, 2014, The AHL's Board of Governors announced at their spring meeting in Chicago that they approved the relocation of the team to Glens Falls for the 2014-15 season, with games played at the Glens Falls Civic Center as the Adirondack Flames.[5][6]